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Accident studies have shown that a major cause of daytime motorcycle accidents is poor frontal visibility. Laboratory experiments are reported which were aimed at investigating the detectability of four devices (high-beam headlight, low-beam headlight, a white triangular wind fairing, and a bright red fluorescent jacket) relative to a standard motorcycle, in both "cluttered" and "clean" environments in daylight. Combinations of these devices were not tested. It was found that the high-beam headlight was superior to other devices in both environments.

AbstractWe study the relationship between management practices, organizational performance, and task clarity, using observational data analysis on an original survey of the universe of Ghanaian civil servants across 45 organizations and novel administrative data on over 3,600 tasks they undertake. We first demonstrate that there is a large range of variation across government organizations, both in management quality and in task completion, and show that management quality is positively related to task completion. We then provide evidence that this association varies across dimensions of management practice. In particular, task completion exhibits a positive partial correlation with management practices related to giving staff autonomy and discretion, but a negative partial correlation with practices related to incentives and monitoring. Consistent with theories of task clarity and goal ambiguity, the partial relationship between incentives/monitoring and task completion is less negative when tasks are clearer ex ante and the partial relationship between autonomy/discretion and task completion is more positive when task completion is clearer ex post. Our findings suggest that organizations could benefit from providing their staff with greater autonomy and discretion, especially for types of tasks that are ill-suited to predefined monitoring and incentive regimes.

A burgeoning area of social science research examines how state capabilities and bureaucratic effectiveness shape economic development. This paper studies how the management practices of civil service bureaucrats correlate to the delivery of public projects, using novel data from the Ghanaian Civil Service. This paper combines hand-coded progress reports on 3,600 projects with a management survey in the government ministries and departments responsible for these projects. The analysis finds that management matters: practices related to autonomy are positively associated with project completion, yet practices related to incentives/monitoring of bureaucrats are negatively associated with project completion. The negative impact of incentives/monitoring practices is partly explained by bureaucrats having to multi-task, interactions with their intrinsic motivation, their engagement in influence activities, and project characteristics such as the clarity of targets and deliverable outputs. The paper discusses the interplay between management practices and corruption, alternative methods by which to measure management practices in organizations, and the external validity of the results. The findings suggest that the focus of many civil service reform programs on introducing stronger incentives and monitoring may backfire in some organizations, and that even countries with low levels of state capability may benefit by providing public servants with greater autonomy in some spheres.

Abstract We review the literature on people management and performance in organizations across a range of disciplines, identifying aspects of management where there is clear evidence about what works as well as aspects where the evidence is mixed or does not yet exist. We organize our discussion by four lenses, or levels of analysis, through which people management can be viewed: (i) individual extrinsic, intrinsic, and psychological factors; (ii) organizational people management, operational management, and culture; (iii) team mechanisms, composition and structural features; and (iv) relationships, including networks, leadership, and individuals' relationships to their job and tasks. Each of these four lenses corresponds not only to a body of literature but also to a set of management tools and approaches to improving public employees' performance; articulating the connections across these perspectives is an essential frontier for research. We find that existing people management evidence and practice have overemphasized formal management tools and financial motivations at the expense of understanding how to leverage a broader range of motivations, build organizational culture, and use informal and relational management practices. We suggest that foregrounding the role of relationships in linking people and performance—relational public management—may prove a fertile and interdisciplinary frontier for research and practices.

We review the literature on people management and performance in organizations across a range of disciplines, identifying aspects of management where there is clear evidence about what works as well as aspects where the evidence is mixed or does not yet exist. We organize our discussion by four lenses, or levels of analysis, through which people management can be viewed: (i) individual extrinsic, intrinsic, and psychological factors; (ii) organizational people management, operational management, and culture; (iii) team mechanisms, composition and structural features; and (iv) relationships, including networks, leadership. and individuals' relationships to their job and tasks. Each of these four lenses corresponds not only to a body of literature but also to a set of management tools and approaches to improving public employees' performance; articulating the connections across these perspectives is an essential frontier for research. We find that existing people management evidence and practice have overemphasized formal management tools and financial motivations at the expense of understanding how to leverage a broader range of motivations, build organizational culture, and use informal and relational management practices. We suggest that foregrounding the role of relationships in linking people and performance-relational public management-may prove a fertile and interdisciplinary frontier for research and practices. ; People in Government Lab at the Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford ; Versión publicada - versión final del editor

AbstractDeveloping nations demand a different scholarly approach in the field of public administration. We advance an agenda for research that stands on four pillars. First, in the absence of easily accessible data scholars of developing world public administration must assemble it for themselves. Second, building and testing theory plays a paramount role because researchers face limited information. Third, in developing countries, multi‐national and non‐governmental organizations are often crucial and must be considered in studying public administration. Fourth, given the novelties and ambiguities researchers face, qualitative information must be integrated throughout the research process. Our article—and the articles in this volume—constitute a call for developing country research to contribute to the study of public administration writ large, informing our understanding of both developing and developed states.

Sean David Beevers, David Carlin Carslaw, David Dajnak, Gregor B Stewart, Martin Lloyd Williams, Julia C Fussell, Frank James Kelly MRC-PHE Centre for Environment and Health, Facility of Life Sciences and Medicine, King's College, London, UK Abstract: Air pollution strategies in London over the last 12 years have centered upon the congestion charging scheme, and at the same time, the fitting of particle traps to London buses, the low emissions zone (LEZ), and the Mayor's Air Quality Strategy (MAQS). The 2003 congestion charging scheme achieved much of the scheme's aims, but the demand to travel and the need for road space eroded the initial benefits. While fitting particle traps on buses was predicted to reduce particulate matter (PM) exhaust emissions, the introduction of phases 1 and 2 of the LEZ and MAQS strategies were both predicted to have modest emission impacts. Reliance on new Euro-standard vehicles to reduce emissions, and as a way of designing LEZs, has been problematic, with oxides of nitrogen (NOx) and nitrogen dioxide (NO2) emissions from diesel vehicles reducing less than predicted. Consequently, the UK has not met annual NO2 European Union (EU) limit values, necessitating a time extension application. A mismatch between PM10 ambient trends and emissions has also been reported, with the long-term performance of PM particle filters remaining an important question. Assessing London's traffic management schemes has relied upon emission inventories and dispersion models, and to date, there has been no confirmation of the effects of the schemes using ambient data, a challenging and important area of research. However, measurements of ambient NOx, NO2, ozone, PM species, and roadside vehicle emissions have all contributed to the improvement of road traffic emission inventories in London, and it remains important to undertake ambient monitoring to assess future schemes. Looking forward, the real-world emissions performance of Euro 6/VI vehicles, selective catalytic reduction, and the ultra-low emissions zone in London will play a critical role in meeting EU limit values for ambient NO2, and in light of the increasing health evidence of urban air pollution, policy makers should aim to reduce PM concentrations toward health-based World Health Organization guideline values. Keywords: congestion charging, low emissions zone, traffic management, NOx, PM10 vehicle emissions

Purpose
– This paper aims to address the question of how value can be created through social responsibility programs or other means, so that sustainability is achieved through increasing stakeholders' participation in the process of design and selection of such programs, so that transparency is maximised and trust can be built with the lasting benefits of co-creation of value.


Design/methodology/approach
– This paper studies the relationship between sustainability, corporate social responsibility, and value co-creation based on qualitative research data gathered from two embedded case studies. The first case study in a large mining company operating in New Zealand and the second case study is based on the New Zealand Merino Company.


Findings
– Findings of this research suggest that sustainability is built with the participation of many interconnected entities, that is, suppliers, manufacturers, retailers, or more generally stakeholders whose actions are fostered by social responsibility that fuels the pride, trust, and consistency of the members of the value chain. Value in all forms – functional value, hedonic value, symbolic value and cost value – is a recurrent theme in this research data; however it is value co-creation, working together, living up to the values that their products and services promise that ultimately supports sustainability.


Originality/value
– This paper shows how the scope of sustainability has broadened from environmental matters to include other topics such as good corporate citizenship, business relationships and the value that is created and shared, not only with shareholders, but also within a wider community of stakeholders.